Bryan Cranston nailed the role of a lifetime as Breaking Bad's teacher-turned-crime lord, Walter White.

That’s how you end a series.

No unexpected stops, hanging storylines or ambiguous resolutions; Sunday’s finale of AMC’s amazingly high-quality drama Breaking Bad resolved the tragic story of Walter White with an ending many expected, delivered in a most unexpected way.Full Story

NBC's Ironside remake, debuting next week, embodies the best and worst trends of the fall TV season.

With just a few days left until I leave this space for good -- I'm headed to work at NPR as their TV critic on Monday -- I managed to sneak in one last freelance commentary for public radio in a conversation with All Things Considered co-host Robert Siegel about the fall TV season.

The discussion, which included me cracking on Blair Underwood's disappointing Ironside remake, reminded me of a poll I filled out for EMMY magazine weeks ago about the fall season. Since EMMY's stories are usually hidden behind a paywall, I figured it might be fun to post my analysis here -- in the magazine, it will appear alongside answers from a bunch of other respected TV critics.

So check out my reaction here -- they're remarkable consistent with how I feel today, despite the fact that I wrote them months ago.Full Story

Tampa Bay area fans of The Voice now have a Florida singer to support.

Donna Allen, a native of Key West who grew up in Tampa and was once a cheerleader for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, stunned two of the judges in NBC’s Emmy-winning singing competition in an episode aired Monday.

Pop diva Christine Aguilera and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine both turned their chairs around during Allen’s performance of You Are So Beautiful – a rendition of the ballad she delivered in the style of blue-eyed soul singer Joe Cocker.

Sometimes, being a contemporary jazz fan in Tampa Bay area can feel like wandering in the desert like a nomad.

Appearances by ace, big-name players are rare; a sign of how much the genre struggles locally, despite the passionate support of a devoted fan base.

All of this helps explain why drummer Billy Cobham and his band received a hero’s welcome when they touched down at the Palladium Theater Friday for a powerhouse performance of tunes from his landmark Spectrum album – now 40 years old.Full Story

This is a bittersweet moment; my last edition of the Deggys for the Tampa Bay Times.

As you may already know, I’m leaving the newspaper in October to become NPR’s TV critic. And who knows if the home of Nina Totenberg and Carl Kasell would ever let me present my own pronouncements on who really would take TV’s top honor if you could eliminate celebrity worship, fixation on past success and Hollywood’s passion for superficiality from the mix.Full Story

Why did CBS take so long to reveal racist comments made by white participants inside the house-like set of its reality TV show Big Brother? And why have TV viewers, even now, only seen comments made by one person when several others did the same?

Why are efforts to compare the murder of Australian baseball player Chris Lane by three teens – one black, one bi-racial and one white – to George Zimmerman’s shooting of black teen Trayvon Martin ultimately unfair and inaccurate?

Why did the election of America’s first non-white president create more conversation about race difference, prejudice and stereotypes than less? And why are some people so angry about that?

One of the most fun elements of my work with NPR has been recording what we call “2 ways” – or the slightly structured conversations with show anchors centered on a certain subject.

On Monday, NPR aired a 2 way between me and Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep, in which we had loads of fun talking about the start of network TV’s fall season and one of its particularly disappointing trends: the crotchety, dysfunctional older parent.Full Story

Breaking Bad's Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston, left) seems to be getting a better end off than Michael C. Hall's Dexter Morgan.

One show is ending its series run with a blitzkrieg of taut episodes in which characters are changed forever, and another seems to be running in place toward its finale, limping toward an ending which doesn’t feel particularly high stakes despite its finality.

Which begs an important, TV-centered question: Why does Breaking Bad’s series finale feel so much bigger, entertaining and well done than the approaching end of Dexter?Full Story

Photo collage showing images from this fall's nine best new TV shows, including Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine, ABC's Marvel's Agents of SHIELD and Showtime's Masters of Sex.

It's not often you get to write this in our modern media age, but you really need to pickup the physical, newsprint copy of today's Tampa Bay Times to appreciate the fun, cool flavor of our latest Fall TV Preview.Full Story

Brenda Song plays a video game company staffer pressured to dress like a sexy schoolgirl to impress clients in Fox TV's heavily-criticized new show, Dads.

If someone told you that something you created was derivative, hokey, borderline racist and blithely sexist, how would you respond?

The Fox network and the minds behind their new sitcom Dads reacted to critics’ almost universal thrashing of the new comedy in a novel new way – by pretending that the caustic reviews are a badge of honor.Full Story

Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts won a Peabody last year for a series of reports on her blood disease treatments called "Robin's Journey."

The University of Georgia has included me among three new members added to the George Foster Peabody Awards Board, the group which selects one of the most prestigious honors in electronic media.Full Story